Friday 4th of August, 2000
a sport to be stared at blankly
Joined a gym, in the basement of one of the big central hotels, but had consumed several Hobnobs for breakfast, so put off actually going until tomorrow.
There is a black and white tv, ostensibly the posession of one of the SBM comics, but now on the coffee table (There was a tv when we arrived, but since the screen doesn't work, and all it gives in terms of sound is a hissing noise, it doesn't count as a television per se. The radio bit of it works, though). It picks up Channel Four, but with no sound. Perfect for watching the cricket. The West Indies appear to be playing craply (all out for a hundred and something), but they have good names, which is important in Cricket, a game in which the commentators like to intone the players names, savouring each syllable, because, frankly, there is little else to do. At the end of the first innings, England were all out for three hundred and something, putting them well over a hundred runs ahead. I have no idea what I'm talking aboout, by the way. The last time I invested any energy in watching a cricket match was 1985 (and I was fairly keen on the 1981 England/Australia test). It's not a sport to be watched, it's a sport to be stared at blankly.
Went along to the open mike at Lianachan, a groovy and morally upstanding coffee shop on Blackfriars Street. Ruaridh MacGlone (of Tron sound fame) was in charge. I got a nice build-up (although that can be a bit scary - I always say it doesn't leave much room to be crap in if the audience have been told you're really good), and played Where Did It All Go Right, Little Games and (perhaps misguidedly) Automatic - this last being quite long with an extemporised scat in the middle (not one of my best tonight). Had to leave early in order to get to the gig. Hope I didn't give the impression of being an interloper and stealer of their time.
The gig was much sparser than last night - total of eight, I think, although four of them had to leave (for timetable reasons, they assured Phil). Oddly though, I felt a lot more comfortable playing than I had and felt that I "inhabited" my bits more than I had done for ages. Go figure.
